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Op-ed | Why Coney Island should embrace The Coney

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A rendering of The Coney, a proposed year-round entertainment complex including a casino.
Rendering courtesy of The Coney

For years, Coney Island has been left behind. As much of Brooklyn and New York City experienced a renaissance, Coney Island has remained stagnant. Part of this is because the city and state have not invested here and in doing so allowed our beloved community to fall by the wayside. But Coney Island also must look internally at some of our leaders who for too long have simply said “no” to everything. Never is this more clear than the debate over The Coney, a project that would actually bring jobs and economic development to this community. 

To start, it’s obvious why The Coney is a project that just works for Coney Island. It’s going to bring thousands of year-round jobs to a community that for too long has had seasonal employment. While we love Coney Island summers, they are just that, summers only. The rest of the year, our neighborhood is mostly empty with few people coming to our sights beyond the aquarium. In this emptiness, our gorgeous seaside Coney Island stands mostly still. There is little foot traffic, little economic activity, and little reason for hope. 

A year-round entertainment destination begins to change this. People would come from all over to Coney Island all year round. They would come to our stores, visit our sites and help our economy. The Coney would fit right in with Coney Island history as a destination that people would come to visit. The jobs that would be created would be good-paying jobs that would help Coney Island residents and help put more money in their pockets. 

Don’t just take it from me. Rich Maroko, president of the Hotel & Gaming Trades Council agrees by saying, “we’re proud to support this land use application for the Coney, a promising project that would bring thousands of high quality hospitality jobs to Brooklyn. We think it’s important for elected officials to recognize this unique chance to create jobs and boost our local economy.”

In addition, The Coney team has made some very big pledges to the community. To start, if they are granted the gaming license, they have promised to establish a $200 million community trust. Let me say that again, $200 million. The trust will get input from the community — and will include actual members of the Coney Island community on the board — to help make Coney Island a better place. It will include community grants for local organizations, boardwalk improvements, funding for workforce development and economic mobility resilience and environmental protection and public art. Furthermore, the trust would help with added safety and security to the area through things like enhanced lighting, more security guards and other things that will improve public safety. 

Finally, The Coney has also pledged a public open space on the roof. This is roughly on acre – or about the size of the main lawn at Bryant Park. It will be free and accessible to the public and you won’t even need to go through the gaming floor. For a community that desperately needs open spaces, this is going to be a big win for the community. 

Given all there is to gain, The Coney is very clearly a win for this community and that’s why many people in Coney Island support it. In fact, 10,000 people in Coney Island and the surrounding area have signed petitions backing it. 

However, there is yet again, a small group of people who just want to say no to everything. They flood community board meetings and, in some instances, are on the community board itself. They yell, they scream, they demean and they intimidate anyone who does not agree with them. But if you listen, you don’t hear any solutions from them. They don’t have actual actionable ideas. For years, even decades, they’ve just said no to everything to the detriment of Coney Island. They issue statements with vague requests and when they kill projects they offer nothing to fill the void. To put it bluntly, they are a big part of the reason why Coney Island gets left behind.

I am here to say no more to no. Coney Island deserves better than the people who just reflexively say no to every single thing. We deserve nice things. We deserve jobs. We deserve economic development. We deserve nicer parks and green space. We deserve better security. And we deserve a future with year-round possibilities. We need to make sure our young people grow up in a neighborhood with possibilities for a better future. 

For too long, the people who show up and scream have had their way and it’s the rest of us in Coney Island who have been made to suffer. No more. It’s time for Coney Island to say yes. There is a quiet majority behind The Coney and they are fed up with leaders who refuse to lead. Maybe the Community Board won’t do it, but we can not remain silent as a great opportunity comes our way. The naysayers don’t have any answers, but we do. It’s time to say yes to The Coney. 

Joseph Packer is a Coney Island resident.